Too often as voters, we see two important things before and during election cycles. The first is the news media tries to define who the capable or best candidates are. The problem there is they don’t necessarily have the same set of interests we do. The second is candidates try to razzle dazzle us by raising issues that sometimes aren’t even pertinent to the office they are seeking, or they fail to address any issues. We also see in both instances too much emphasis on personality and not enough on capability. To determine who can best lines up with our thinking for the what a particular office holder should do, we only need to have them answer a few questions. The other minutia and fluff they toss out can be ignored, Getting those questions answered will give us a good indication of if elected, how they will govern, Getting these questions answered also removes part of the filters the new media places on information we need.
The questions are:
FOR GOVERNOR
- Have you ever sought public office before?
- What was the outcome?
- Have you ever been responsible for a budget of $50 million or more?
- If yes, what industry______________________?
- Have you ever managed a staff of at least 100 people?
- I know they are all important, but please rank your top three priorities for the state.
- Urban job creation ___
- Increasing tourism ___
- Overhauling the budget process ___
- Term limit legislation ___
- Union contract negotiations ___
- Property tax freeze ___
- Income tax adjustments ___
- Other ____________________________
_________________________________
FOR MAYOR
- I know they are all important, but please rank your top three priorities for the state.
1) Have you ever sought public office before ___
2)What was the outcome? __________
3)Have you ever been responsible for a budget of $10 million or more? _____
4)If yes, what industry______________________?
5) Have you ever managed a staff of at least 50 people? ____
6) Rank the following in order of importance to you
___ Job training programs targeting the poorest zip codes
___ Economic development
___ Revision of the municipal code
___ Police reform
___ Participatory budgeting
___ Increased funding for anti-violence programs
___ Reopening mental health clinics
___ Increased hiring of African Americans in the fire and police departments
___ Jobs for 17-24 year olds
___ Infrastructure repairs/improvements, including sidewalks
___ Teacher contracts
___ Park and playground upkeep
___ Bicycling lanes
____ Other ___________________________ _____________________________
Next issue: City Council questions